Tenniel, John, illus.

6 3/4 x 4 3/4 in.; 175 x 120 mm, tipped to heavier card stock (9 1/4 x 6 1/2 in.; 240 x 170 mm), being the fourth illustration in the book depicting Alice crouched on the fireplace mantel peering into the mirror, initials by Tenniel in the lower right corner;  faint offsetting from the the half-title of the book it was once tipped into (Through the Looking Glass) on verso, some minor toning and soiling.

See following lot

See following lot

Original pencil drawing (6 3/4 x 4 3/4 in.; 175 x 120 mm) on a blank leaf apparently taken from a printed copy of Through the Looking-Glass (London: Macmillan, 1872) , tipped to heavier card stock (9 1/4 x 6 1/2 in.; 240 x 170 mm), being the illustration for the frontispiece of the book; faint offsetting of the the half-title (Through the Looking Glass) on verso, some toning and soiling
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Tenniel's commission pencil drawing  after his original illustration for Through the Looking-Glass. The drawing depicts Alice just a moment before she traverses the mirror into the Looking-glass House where things are the reverse of her world and "the books are something like our books, only the words go the wrong way ..."

The collaboration of Lewis Carroll and John Tenniel began in 1863, after Carroll had completed his own illustrated version of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. By July he decided to publish the manuscript, but given his shortcomings as a draftsman—particularly in depicting animals and creatures— he cast about for a professional and  skilled illustrator. He admired Tenniel's Aesop and whimsical Punch animal fillers and succeeded in obtaining an introduction to the artist at his studio in January 1864. By 5 April Tenniel had agreed to illustrate Alice. 

It was a decision that would continue to pay for Tenniel as the popularity for all things Alice grew, he was asked to reproduce some of his best-loved illustrations as he has done here.

The drawing was purchased by the present owner's family from Alice Parsons Millard, who established with her husband a rare book business in 1914 in Pasadena, catering to a group of affluent California collectors that included Henry E. Huntington, Estelle Doheny, William A. Clark, Jr., and John I. Perkins.